Drill pipes, tubulars, and the like are often used to drill holes for oil and gas wells. A series of drill pipes are attached end to end to form an elongated drill string. A rotatable bit for making new hole is attached to the lowermost end of the string. Assembly and disassembly of the string is accomplished by a process called “tripping”. To “trip in” to a hole being drilled, new pipes are sequentially added to the upper end of the string to allow the string to be run further into the hole. To “trip out” of a hole once it has been drilled, pipes are sequentially removed from the upper end of the string as it is removed from the hole.
Conventional systems for performing a tripping process include a drill rig having a floor and a rotary table positioned over a hole to be drilled in the ground. A mechanized catwalk is configured to move new drill pipes towards the rig floor. The drill pipe “in the hole” extends above the rotary table by a height called the “stick-up”. A hoisting device, such as a winch or pulley system having a traveling block, is supported on a mast assembly above the rig floor. To trip a new pipe into the hole, the hoisting device is clamped to the new pipe and then moved upwards to allow the pipe to swing freely above the stick-up section of the drill pipe in the rotary table. The lower end of the pipe is then aligned with and stabbed into the upper end of the drill pipe in the rotary table. Thereafter, joystick controls are manually operated to move a torque-making machine, such as a mechanized wrench, tongs, and/or the like, to the well center and to engage with and torque the pipe to the string or the drill pipe is torqued manually using conventional tongs. Thereafter a slip mechanism holding the string in place is released and the string is run further into the hole. The above process is continued repeatedly to trip into the hole, and repeatedly in reverse order to trip out of the hole.